With just four days to the rescheduled elections of the National Assembly, the polity is being heated up by quarrels over issues related to the elections. These quarrels are worrying because they are unnecessary and confusing. They should stop, and constructive and helpful discussions on the way forward, and voter education should take their place. After all, the elections of last Saturday have been aborted, and the rescheduled ones will hold, unless someone somewhere succeeds in plunging our nation into an even bigger disaster than we witnessed last Saturday by deliberately subverting them.
Politicians are actively engaged in a fruitless blame game and speculations over the failed April 2nd elections. After the Chairman of INEC has accepted full responsibility for this embarrassing failure, and has apologized to the nation, the speculations and accusations being made by many politicians are really diversionary and unproductive. Whether Professor Jega was compelled to move the elections by one week, or he and his Commission did so voluntarily and legally is irrelevant. Those who still believe in Jega’s integrity should not doubt his ability to withstand pressure. Instead, we should accept and work towards winning the elections fairly and transparently.
But a more worrying quarrel is one over a major problem that is yet unresolved. INEC insists that the Open Secret Ballot system will be used for all the elections. This system means that all voters will be accredited first between 8.am and 12.pm. Those who will vote, and who have been accredited will be counted, and their numbers announced. They will then queue up and vote in secret, but will each cast their ballot in public. After, they may, if they choose, remain behind to witness the counting and the declaration of votes. This is its version of the Open-Secret Ballot System.
On the other hand, security operatives and some political parties say this is not acceptable to them. They argue that the law does not allow voters to stay behind after voting, under whatever excuse. Their own interpretation will make it possible and necessary for them to enforce the law and disperse voters who, according to them, have no legal right to loiter around polling stations, or insist on being close enough physically to witness the counting and declaration of votes cast. One or two other parties do not like the idea of separate accreditation and voting, largely on the grounds that it will take too long for people to vote, and is not supported by law.
With everyday we move nearer to the elections, the need to resolve this issue is becoming more and more pressing. Last Saturday, many voters went out to be accredited, vote, and stay behind to witness the count and declaration of votes cast, no matter what the security agencies said. Fortunately, we did not have to go through the experience of finding out the effect of this decision by large numbers of voters who had decided to stay put. Now is the time to ensure that we do not leave these grey areas with the potential for conflict unattended.
The issue of polling units is also important, and we need INEC and the political parties to address this issue properly. Many people who went out to vote last Saturday could not locate their polling units, and to date no one has clarified where they will vote. We also need a re-affirmation of the decision of INEC that voters will be accredited first, and then vote later. If this is still the case, the public needs to be informed well in advance, and polling officials must come out early to commence the process. At all cost, we must avoid the mistakes and the avoidable lapses we witnessed last week.
A disturbing trend is emerging, in which some political parties are portrayed as sympathetic and friendly to Professor Jega, and others hostile to him. This is a dangerous trend. Professor Jega does not need any cheerleaders. Parties who are supporting him because they think he will be sympathetic to them will be seriously disappointed. Parties which are trying to intimidate him and create divisions within the Commission will find that they are wasting their time. Professor Jega’s explanations to the nation for the botched elections of last Saturday have clearly shown that no political party was responsible for his failures. He and his Commission alone are responsible, and they should left alone to speak for themselves, and defend their actions or account for their failures.
INEC cannot afford to repeat basic mistakes which will alienate it completely from public sympathy. The reports of some mistakes on ballot papers are disturbing. If they are true, INEC needs to move quickly to remedy them, or let coustituencies where elections cannot hold know this well in advance. INEC needs to be on its toes to counter deliberate falsehood being peddled by some politicians and political parties, such as stories that it has already published Presidential run-off election ballot papers; or that there are serious splits within its ranks; or that some politicians are substituting trained NYSC people with their own ad hoc staff.
INEC needs to re-assert its control over the electoral process. It is INEC, not the political parties which will conduct these elections. INEC should tell Politicians and Political Parties which are using it to settle scores to shut up, and let it get on with the job of organizing free and fair election. All this talk and speculation over Jega’s integrity and competence will only be verified on the days when Nigerians cast their votes. If the elections go well, we will forget his past failures. If he allows Politicians to mess up his job, he will single-handedly plunge this Country into a monumental constitutional crisis.
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